The Y Experience
by Missography
Summary: In a world where the mutation that created Quirks is carried on the Y chromosome, only males have these special abilities. But gender was not going to stop Izuku Midoriya from reaching her dreams. AU, FemIzuku
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! This is my first foray into the My Hero Academia world, and I hope you all enjoy it! Please please please, if you have any criticisms or questions, review or shoot me a pm! I love to hear feedback!

Now onto the story! (Also, I don't own anything except the concept of the story, all characters are out of my price range!)

The discrepancy between men and women in society had been a point of contention for as long as history could track. Patriarchies became the norm during the start of most industrialized civilization, and had continued in most countries even once the world reached the 21st century. Certain countries, including the United States and several of the larger European countries, had made major steps to bridge the gap between the two sexes. Most other 1st world countries had made similar, though smaller scale, attempts to do the same.

As the world finally began to accept the equal rights of the two sexes, a new issue arrived on the scene to further shake up the issue.

A baby was born in China with the ability to glow. Before the world could even begin to extrapolate the reasoning behind this phenomenon, other abilities began cropping up around the world. Children with wings, the ability to control the elements, those born with super strength and many, many more abilities were quickly becoming the norm in society. However, as the years passed and research was conducted, one thing quickly became apparent.

These new abilities were only appearing in babies born with XY chromosomes, in other words, only boys could get this particular mutation of the genes. Further study into the science of it quickly uncovered that the simple explanation was that the gene that mutated in order to instigate these abilities could only be found on the Y chromosome.

This new discrepancy between the two sexes quickly brought back every seemingly closed issue that had previously been fought over. Women were facing newfound sexism, as society told them they were lesser than the men. The argument seemed to be that, without the possibility of gaining these abilities, women could not protect themselves in the face of an evolving society. Many believed that they should go back to the days of women staying home and taking care of the kids, never leaving their houses for sake of "keeping them safe".

Another issue that was cropping up was reminiscent of the days in which China had limited the number of kids a couple could have to 1. During those days, the female population quickly dwindled, as households only wanted males in order to carry on the family name, as well as the belief that only a boy would be able to support their parents as they got older. That same belief seemed to be spreading across much of the world, as families wanted boys in order to start a line that held what the world was now calling "quirks".

Luckily for the world, women began quickly fighting back against the beginning of oppression. They held rallies, pushed petitions and generally stood up for themselves. It seemed that the past instances of segregation between the two sexes had left the women gilded and unwilling to sit back.

These quick thinking and passionate responses from the women of the world quickly began breaking down any inklings of sexism that had begun to sprout.

This was, surprisingly, assisted by the creation of a new line of work. "Heroes" had begun cropping up around the world in response to an increase in crimes caused by the new Quirks people had acquired. As men began diverting from the normal occupations, such as health care, law, public service, construction, and many other industries, a need grew to fill those positions. Many stereotypically male-dominated careers were seeing a decline in population, one that women were quick to advantage of.

Female doctors and scientists were more and more common; it was no longer strange to see women on a construction site. Large corporations saw an influx of female CEOs, and many governments saw a much heavier influence of participation from the fairer sex.

Now, several generations after the first Quirk had manifested, society had settled back into a semblance of peace. Women retained their rights through their own unwillingness to give in, and men found a new niche within the realm of hero-dom. The precarious balance that had been found was, at least for now, keeping both sides happy.

The perfect personification of this balance could be found within the confines of a middle school in Japan. Aldera Middle School, found in Musutafu, Japan, was currently holding a gym class for its 3rd year students. Within this gym class, a game of dodgeball was taking place, girls vs boys style.

Most would find this unfair, especially with the presence of quirks, but said abilities had been almost completely banned from all schools by the Japanese government. Some would say that even with those limitations, the girls were still at a general disadvantage, but watching this particular class clearly showcased how untrue that sentiment was.

Most of the students were standing around the edges of the gym floor, watching the event unfold before them. On the boy's side was a blond, intense looking teen. He was shouting expletives even as he threw the red rubber balls at the other side with almost violent force. The other side was a complete dichotomy to that violence. A girl with green, flowing hair was calmly and quietly dodging from side to side, missing each throw that came near her.

Nobody in the class seemed surprised by the scene in front of them. In fact, several of them were placing bets. "How long do you think this is gonna take?" One boy asked another sitting next to him.

"I dunno, as long as it takes for Bakugou to explode."

They both laughed, before another chimed in. "I bet 500 yen that Midoriya-chan decides to forfeit before then. You know how much she hates making Bakugou angry."

The first boy quickly grabbed his hand, shaking it vigorously. "I'll take that bet! Look at how riled up he already is!"

Everyone turned back to the two in the center of the gym. Sure enough, Bakugou's hands were sporadically making popping noises as he fought to control his explosive quirk despite his irritation with the girl across from him.

As he sent one final ball at the other side, Midoriya Izuku sighed before finally stopping, throwing a hand out to make contact with the ball as it passed her, officially putting her out of the game and giving victory to the boys.

Contrary to how most would react in light of a victory, Bakugou grew even more angry. He stormed over to the much shorter girl, getting in her face as he yelled, "Dammit Deku! What do you think you're doing?! I was gonna win without you giving up like the wimp you are!" His eyes flashed with the anger he made no attempt at controlling.

The aforementioned girl merely sighed again and took a step back, slightly hunching in on herself. "The class ended 10 minutes ago, Kacchan, it was time to stop. And you never want to stop so-"

Bakugou cut in before she could even finish her sentence. "I don't give a shit-" a quiet admonishment slipped past Izuku's lips, ignored by the blond "-about the class ending! I was gonna finally prove, once and for all, that I'm indisputably stronger than you!"

Izuku had to fight the urge to roll her eyes, as she knew that that would only make him more irritated, impossible as that seemed. "Kacchan, you know you're stronger than me. Your quirk is awesome! I'd never win in a real fight against you!"

Despite what she had intended to be comforting words, Bakugou's temperature seemed to spike at her words, his hands sparking as he revved himself up for more yelling.

Luckily at that moment the teacher finally decided to step in, grabbing the angry boy's attention away from Izuku who had begun shrinking back even more at the look her friend was giving her. As the disruption settled down, all of her classmates seemed to lose interest, dispersing towards the changing room.

Bakugou, while still obviously angry, begrudgingly made his own way out of the room, shooting a scathing look at Izuku on his way. She chose to ignore it, knowing he would calm down by the time he was done changing.

The two had been friends for as long as she could remember. She had followed him around in pre-school, had cooed in awe in kindergarten when he got his quirk ("Kacchan, that's so cool! I bet you'll be the best hero ever!"), and had been in every class with him since the beginning of elementary school. Their principal had learned early on that, although Izuku was often the cause of his outbursts, she was also one of the only people who could calm the hothead down once he got going.

With one final sigh, she began walking towards the girls' changing room which had quickly filled while she stood in the middle of the gym.

The second she entered the humid room, she was surrounded by the rest of the girls in her class. "Oh my gosh, are you okay Midoriya? Did Bakugou hit you again?" "You're so cool!" "I can't believe how long you lasted against him!" "Bakugou is so mean, but so cute!" "You're so lucky to have such a cute, strong boyfriend, Midori-chan!"

She had been passively listening to the words swirling around her, but at the last statement she froze in the middle of undressing, flushing a bright red even as she spun around to confront the girl who had made such a bold statement. "He is not my boyfriend! We're just childhood friends!"

One of the other girls giggled, nudging Izuku's bare shoulder with her own. "There's no need to be so shy! After all, he's always trying to find excuses to hang out with you!"

"If by 'hang out' you mean 'fight with', then I suppose you're right, but that definitely doesn't mean we're dating! Or that he's interested!" Izuku was almost desperate in her insistence, knowing that if she didn't make herself very clear the other girls would continue their harping, and it would eventually get back to the boys. Even the thought of Bakugou hearing about this conversation had her blush receding, leaving her already fair skin even more pale. Bakugou was likely to explode the school in his anger if anyone even insinuated that he liked 'Deku'.

The girls seemed to sense her desperation and quickly backed off. Many of them were still giggling, but at least had dropped the topic.

10 minutes later, all the other girls had finished dressing. Each of them waved to Izuku as they passed by, sending greetings to the still changing girl. "See you later, Izuku! Tell Bakugou we say hi!" This seemed to send the whole group back into a fit of giggles as they left. Izuku fought to keep her face from flushing even as she sent a weak wave back, refusing to comment.

Just as Izuku put on her last piece of clothing following a quick shower, the room's door banged open. She jumped with a squeal, spinning in place with her hands clutched to her chest. Quicker than she could think her upper arm was grabbed, her brain scrabbling to catch up with what was happening.

Finally, her mind settled enough to realize the one grabbing her was none other than her childhood friend, Bakugou, and she quickly grabbed her bag off the bench beside her before he could drag her completely out of the room.

"Kacchan!" she all but screeched at him as she pulled her arm from his grasp, falling into step next to him. "What would you have done if I was still changing? Are you trying to make everyone think you're a pervert?" It became quickly apparent that he wasn't even half paying attention to her yells.

Obviously there was no point in trying to get through to him on this, so instead she focused on where they were going. After a look around it was clear that they were walking towards the school's outdoor gym area, where their class often held games of soccer, baseball and other such sports. She didn't even need to ask him why he wanted to go there, this wasn't the first time it had happened.

"I can't today," she said simply.

He growled in response, but otherwise said nothing, continuing in the single-minded nature that seemed to inhabit every action the blond made.

"I'm serious, Kacchan, I have capoeira class today! I can't spar with you; I'm already running late!" She desperately tried to get him to listen, knowing that he would have no compunctions with attacking her unprompted just to get her to fight with him.

She didn't know where his need to beat her in fights came from, but it had been going on for several years. Ever since she had started taking martial arts classes, in fact.

Her mom decided that, in a world full of villains and men that could easily overpower, especially considering her petite frame, she needed to know how to defend herself. Bakugou thought the whole thing was ridiculous, saying that she would "never been strong enough to beat a guy". However, after sitting in on one of her kick boxing lessons simply out of boredom, he had become fixated on fighting her.

She had asked him in the past if he wanted to join her classes, as several of them were mixed gender, but he had quickly, and caustically, declined. In his own words, "only wimps needed someone to teach them how to be strong." Despite this, he seemed to believe her a worthy rival. They had a spar at least once a week, more when he was feeling particularly angry.

She could perhaps understand if she won some of their spars, and so he therefor had something to prove, but she had never won. Sure, she could hold her own for a while, but she had yet to truly beat him. Despite her many losses, he continued challenging her, insisting that he needed to prove that he was "without a doubt" stronger than her.

But right now was really, really not the time for this! She was already running late for her class because of how long it took her to change after gym, and if she showed up more than 5 minutes after class started, her teacher would make her stand outside and hold a bucket for 30 minutes as punishment. The strain wasn't even the worst part, the class took place in a building in the middle of town, so she would have to bare the punishment in front of everyone shopping.

Just as she opened her mouth to try and dissuade him, he whirled around, glaring at her for one heart stopping moment. Before she could even cringe away from what she was sure would be a vicious attack he began walking in the opposite direction, back towards the front of school.

His gruff voice huffed out as he passed her, "I'll be in town when you finish your class. You better spar with me then!"

She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thanks Kacchan, I promise I'll see you when my class is done!"

He huffed again, continuing to walk away as though he hadn't even heard her. She knew he had, though. If there was one thing that was bound to catch Bakugou's attention, it was a good fight.

Content in the knowledge that she could still make it to her lesson, she quickly left the school, walking alone towards the town through an alternate route she had discovered just the year before. It took her through a quiet, secluded part of town not far from the water, giving her time to relax before focusing on whichever class she had that day.

As she thought about the class she was jogging towards, which happened to be her favorite, she didn't notice the quiet sound of liquid whooshing beneath the manhole she had just stepped over. When the metal cover burst open with a clang, she squeaked in shock before throwing herself forward and away from what she assumed was an explosion.

A glance behind her quickly disproved that notion. Where before she had been completely alone on this stretch of road, there was now a large, amorphous blob. A blob that had just spotted her.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey everyone! I really appreciate the responses I got from the first chapter, especially from_ RandomDude! _I love hearing people's thoughts, criticisms, compliments, everything! Every time somebody shares their feelings on my story, I get a little bit better at writing!_

 _Anyways, hopefully you guys like this chapter! Admittedly I am waffling a little bit between making Izuku a hero or to go an alternate direction, so if you have an opinion on that, please feel free to share it!_

 _Enjoy!_

The last thing she had expected to encounter on the way to her class was a villain hell-bent on controlling her body. In fact, that possibility had never even occurred to her. And yet here she was, staring down a giant blob that seemed to have set its sights on her.

Before she could even begin to react, the thing's body came rushing towards her, enveloping her in the most disgustingly, slimy, lukewarm substance she had ever had the misfortune of touching. Although her entire head was covered by the gelatin-like substance, she clearly heard a voice above her say, "well aren't you a pretty little mask for me to wear. Normally I'd say it's too bad you're a girl, no quirk and all, but I think I can make an exception this time."

Her already queasy stomach rebelled against his words. She was sure that had her mouth not been covered, she would have been sick.

She hardly had a moment to think as her body began struggling for air, slowly asphyxiating as his liquid tentacles invaded her mouth and nose. No air could make it past the thick substance, and she was positive that she would pass out any second.

With no plan, no weapon, and no way to move even if she had either of those things, she resigned herself to her fate. She would miss everyone, and she wished she could have said goodbye to the people she loved. But most of all, she regretted that this vile thing was going to use her body to commit crimes. She knew that she couldn't be a hero, but she had certainly never wanted to act as a villain.

As the edges of her vision began fading, she barely recognized the sound of another explosion and a booming voice in front of her. She had no clue what was happening, but she could only hope that this whole ordeal would be over soon.

The next thing she knew, she was laying on the ground, hacking up half a lung trying to get her breath back. It felt like having pneumonia, where no matter how you hacked, you couldn't get the feeling of liquid out of your lungs. Before she could fully regain her composure, a large hand reached around her upper arm and lifted her to her feet.

Her exhaustion was immense, making it difficult for her to even life her head to look at her savior, but she pushed through. Slowly her head tilted up to glance at the huge figure in front of her. The sun was behind them, making look like one giant, muscled shadow. But as her eyes adjusted to the light, she immediately recognized the bright blond hair and glistening smile of the man in front of her.

All Might, the strongest man alive, her hero, the figure that decorated her bedroom, a living legend. And somehow, he had found her in this small town, on this out-of-the-way road, and saved her life.

She could feel an excitement induced panic attack coming on and quickly calmed her breathing, choosing not to speak until she had herself under control.

It seemed like the tall hero had quite enough waiting, as he chose that moment to speak. "My apologies, young lady!" His voice boomed, filling the tunnel they stood under. "I'm not as young as I used to be, and I let that villain get a little too far from me! Rest assured I will turn him into the authorities now that he is captured!"

Just now realizing that she couldn't see the awful blob, she glanced around and noticed a water bottle held in All Might's giant fist. Inside she could see a churning green liquid. When an eye slid around to look at her from within the slime, she once again felt the need to be sick, but quickly stemmed it. She would not vomit in front of her hero! Especially not when he had already had to save her.

Finally gaining some composure, she threw her hand out in front of her, as though she wanted a hand shake, and then quickly retracted it, muttering to herself, "no you idiot, he doesn't want to shake your hand." But even having said that, her hand hovered in the air in front of her, as though unsure where it should go.

Perhaps having heard her, or just being used to fangirls, All Might grabbed her hand in his large one and gave it a single, body rocking shake that had her almost flying off her feet, though she caught herself at the last second. Despite this she couldn't hold back a squeal of delight and a river of words flowing from her mouth. "Oh my gosh, All Might, I can't believe it's really you! And you saved me! This is a dream come true! Well maybe not the part with the weird, sorta rapey slime guy, but the rest of it is so cool!" She couldn't seem to get the words under control so she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, her cheeks pinking in embarrassment and happiness.

His boisterous voice laughed at her plight, obviously finding amusement in her reaction, before he spoke. "I appreciate your support, young girl! But I must be off, a hero's work is never done, and this villain needs to be dropped off with the proper authorities!"

As All Might turned to leave, Izuku panicked, wanting more time with the man she had looked up to her whole life. This was a once in a lifetime chance and she didn't want it to slip by. Still, she couldn't rightfully stop the man when he was in the middle of doing his duty.

As he prepared to leave, stretching his legs as though he was about to participate in a marathon, the thought occurred to the young girl that, if she didn't get his autograph and Kacchan found out, he would do his best to light her on fire. With that more than scary thought in mind, she reached for the man, just snagging the bottom of his shirt when he gave a mighty push with his powerful legs, rocketing into the sky. She scrabbled to get a better hold, hands going around as much of his waist as she could reach. Even stretched as far as they could go, they barely covered half of the circumference that was his pelvis.

He didn't seem to notice her for a second, but then obviously caught sight of her emerald hair flapping in the wind. He immediately began attempting to pry her away from him. "Hey hey hey! I love my fans, but this is going too far! You must let go, young lady!"

She struggled to speak with the wind whipping around her, her face buried into his hip. "If I let go right now, I'll die! I didn't mean to grab onto you like that, but I didn't have the chance to let go before you jumped!"

His face cleared slightly of the anger that had been sparked by her presence in the air and he sighed. "Yes yes, I understand. Just hold on and keep your head down. I'll let you down somewhere safe, little miss." He grabbed her back pack, guaranteeing a secure hold on the terrified middle schooler.

Only a few seconds later and they were landing on a random rooftop to a city office. Izuku crashed to the ground, her legs unable to carry her in light of how hard they were shaking.

As she attempted to compose herself, All Might began walking back towards the edge of the building, obviously preparing to leave again.

Izuku quickly scrambled to her feet, taking a step towards her idol. "Wait!" She yelled before she could stop and reprimand herself for her rudeness. "Please wait, I have a question!" She didn't know exactly what it was she wanted to ask the man, but her mind was screaming at her, telling her that there was something important she needed to ask him. She had only planned on asking for an autograph or two, but it seemed something in her brain had other ideas.

Despite the desperation in her voice, All Might continued walking away, talking over his shoulder at the greenette. "Sorry young girl, but I cannot wait, I must return to my hero duties."

The farther he walked away, ignoring her presence, the more her throat seemed to well up with indescribable emotion. She didn't know why she was so upset, but she did know that this feeling would eat her alive if she didn't get the hero to stop and listen to her.

Izuku couldn't stop the next words from ripping their way out of her throat. "Please, I need to know! As a girl, as a quirkless person, do I have any hope of becoming like you? Can I, without any special powers, become a hero like you?"

Both people on the roof seemed to freeze in tandem. Izuku's whole body was shaking, and she couldn't believe that she had just asked her hero such a brazen question. Until that moment, she hadn't even realized that she still harbored a hope of becoming a hero. As a child she had entertained hopes of one day being like her favorite heroes, with particular attention on All Might. By the time she hit elementary school and faced the reality of her quirklessness, she had accepted that in a world where girls had such an inherent disadvantage, that particular dream would never come true.

Wrapped up in the thoughts swirling around her head, she paid no attention to the man in front of her. Her mind had frozen. And in the meantime, his body had begun releasing what looked like steam, and he was muttering to himself, English expletives hissed through clenched teeth.

Finally coming back to herself, Izuku raised her lowered head and opened her mouth to apologize for her brazenness, taking All Might's relative silence to mean he was angry at her. However, instead of the words she had planned, a squeak squeezed out of her throat. Where the muscled, majestic man had once stood now held an equally tall, but much skinnier man. His hair was vibrant yellow, but looked ragged and lank. His skin was pale, his eye sockets sunken into an impossibly skinny face.

Izuku quickly looked around, trying to find where the hero had gone, but quickly had to resign herself to the fact that he hadn't gone anywhere. Instead he had turned into the impossibly sick looking man in front of her.

The man coughed, spraying a small amount of blood, before speaking. "Well damn, I thought I had a little more time."

Izuku was so confused she couldn't even think in coherent sentences, but attempted to speak regardless. "But, how? Why? What? What's going on?"

All Might sighed, slumping to the ground to lean against the rail behind him. He seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders as he addresses the much younger girl.

"You're going to have to keep this to yourself," he started. "No one in the public is aware of this secret, and I'd like it to stay that way." Izuku quickly nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.

His voice sounded centuries old as he spoke with a weight that instantly had her attention. "Five years ago, I fought a villain. During the course of that fight, I was mortally wounded." He paused for just a moment, his hand dragging the too-big shirt up, exposing his ribs.

Izuku couldn't help but gasp at the sight before her. Along his ribcage was a whirlpool shaped scar, looking like someone had gouged a hole into the man's side.

He ignored her reaction, continuing on. "In order to save my life, the surgeons had to remove a majority of my stomach and intestines, leaving me weak and unable to hold nutrients. Since then, I can only hold my form as All Might for a few hours a day, and that time has been steadily dwindling. Pretty soon I'll be stuck in this form."

Izuku wanted to cry, but no tears came to her eyes. Shock had rendered her motionless.

As she stood there, bright blue pierced straight through her. Despite his diminutive figure in this form, his gaze still contained the same fire and strength that she had always drawn her to the American-themed hero.

As the silence stretched between the two of them, Izuku felt the impending conversation change. He seemed to be winding himself up to answer her previous question, one she had never meant to ask. She felt even more silly now that he had shared his past, and how hard being a hero was even for someone as powerful as him. Besides, she was fairly certain she already knew the answer he would give, and knew that having him actually verbalize it would do nothing but break her spirit.

So, when he finally opened his mouth to speak, presumably with an answer, she cut him off, "You know what, never mind. I'm so sorry for bothering you with my inane problems! You don't need to bother with me. Please, feel free to get back to what you were doing! I know being a hero must be very busy, and you have particularly limited time, so I'll just go! Thank you for listening to me!"

After her word vomit had ceased, she turned around, her face red in embarrassment and quickly scurried towards the door to the building below.

Just as her hand wrapped around the, surprisingly unlocked, door knob, she heard someone call out behind her. "Young lady, wait just a moment!"

She reluctantly turned around, only to see All Might back in his original form, but still looking oddly weary. She waited silently for him to say something, and he seemed to struggle with himself. Finally he seemed to find the words to speak. "What is your name, young lady?"

Of all the things he could of said, that certainly wasn't what she expected. "Midoriya Izuku?" Somehow the answer sounded more like her own question.

"Well young Midoriya," he began, "Something I believe you should understand is that the term 'hero' is different for each person. Sure, the media says a hero is a person with a quirk whose job is to save people from dangerous situations, but that's not all there is to it. A hero for a child might be the teacher who has helped them find something to be passionate about, a homeless person's hero might be the kind stranger who offered them food. You can even be your own hero simply by fighting to achieve your dreams. So when you ask me if I think you could be a hero like me, the answer is no. It would be too dangerous without a quirk. But if you ask whether or not I think you can be a hero, then that answer is entirely up to you. You do not need to fight villains or evacuate burning buildings to help the world."

 _Alrighty, that's chapter 2 done! Sorry for the long time between updates. I work two jobs and am getting ready to go back to school, so I can pretty much only write between shifts, which isn't a whole lot of time._

 _See you next time!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey all! Sorry for the long time between chapters, I'm trying to keep the motivation up, but it can be difficult sometimes! Also, sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the others. Honestly, I just figured it'd be better to get something out today than to make you all wait more!_

 _Another apology, I know I tend to be very long winded in my descriptions of what is going on in scenes. It's a habit I'm trying to break, but it's harder than it sounds! And after this chapter it shouldn't be quite to redundant, because the scenes will begin to follow the canon less and less from here on out!_

 _Thanks for reading guys!_

It seemed like it had been days since her conversation with All Might came to an end, but in reality it had only been minutes.

After answering the question she had never meant to ask, the hero had departed with a mighty jump from the building. And now she was left with even more questions than before.

She hadn't realized that she was still hung up on the concept of being a hero. Now that she realized that, she didn't know how to move forward. Although his speech had been altogether uplifting, she couldn't help but dwell on the definitive "no" he had given her. She would never be a hero. At least, not in the way she had secretly hoped for since childhood.

Maybe tomorrow she would be thankful for meeting her childhood hero, and hearing such good advice from him. But right now, it felt as though she had been sucker punched. She would need time to acclimate these new feelings and come to terms with them.

In the meantime, she was running very very late for her fighting class. And of all her instructors, the one for capoeira was the most strict.

Taking a deep breath, she forced her legs to move. She left the tall building All Might had dropped her off at and started towards the shopping district her lessons were in. Lost in thought as she was, she didn't notice the commotion around her at first. When someone ran into her running in the same direction she was headed, she finally dragged her head out of the clouds. Everyone around her seemed to be gathering around one section of the street.

Now that she was paying attention, she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed before. There was smoke spreading through the street, paired with loud explosions that sounded oddly familiar to the young girl.

Picking up her pace, she pushed through to the front of the crowd and immediately felt the blood drain from her face. For there in front of her was the same slimey creature as before. But truly had her heart stopping in her chest was the blond boy held in the villain's suffocating grasp.

"Kacchan!" She yelled, the sound drowned out by the commotion around her.

She looked around, trying to figure out what the heroes were doing to help her classmate. The answer was nothing. None of the heroes present were able to get close to the villain and his hostage, especially as the blond's agitation was making for bigger and more powerful explosions, deterring those who might be able to save him.

She stood there, frozen for what seemed like hours. She couldn't rip her eyes from the disaster she had caused. If she hadn't grabbed onto All Might and forced him to take her along, he wouldn't have dropped the bottle containing the villain. Or if she hadn't distracted him with unnecessary questions, he would've noticed sooner that it was missing. If she had just let go of her dreams long ago…

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off as Kacchan turned his gaze towards her. She didn't know if it was her imagination or not, but they seemed to be staring straight at her, begging her.

Before she could fully interpret what was happening, her body was moving, running straight passed the crowd and into the fray.

She still had no plan, and no real weapons, but she'd be damned if she sat there and watched Kacchan get hurt!

Her brain ran through scenario after scenario, trying to figure out the best method of attack, even as long tentacles of slime shot out and tried to stop her approach. Luckily for her, long honed reflexes kicked in and had her easily dodging these attacks. After a particularly vicious swat from one of those tentacles narrowly missed her head, she finally realized the weak point she would need to aim for.

Whipping off her backpack she let out an ungodly screech, causing the villain's eyes to widen momentarily. That moment was all she needed as she flung her backpack directly into his swampy green eye.

The entirety of the slime's body seemed to reel back, including the part that had been trapping Bakugou's face, cutting of his airways. izuko took the opportunity and darted closer. Grabbing Bakugou's exposed arm she pulled with all her might, trying to heave him out of the muck.

"Deku!" the enraged teen yelled. "What are you doing here?! I didn't ask for your help!"

izuko could feel tears beginning to well and spill, the intensity of the situation getting to her already frayed emotions. "It doesn't matter if you asked! You looked like you needed help, and I would never turn my back on a friend!"

In that moment the villain seemed to realize what was happening and reared back to slam the young girl away. As everyone around them screamed at the girl to get out of the way, a loud yell was suddenly released.

"Detroit….Smash!" One second there was chaos, and the next there was an eerie silence. The villain had been blown away, the two teens were in the arms of a blond giant, and the heavens opened up to release a surprise rainfall.

The next few minutes seemed to pass in a blur for the green haired girl. She vaguely remembered being scolded by several pro heroes, and listened to the same heroes praise Bakugou. When time finally reverted back to its normal pace, she found herself already walking home, barely remembering how she'd gotten there.

"Deku!" A voice yelled behind her. She let out a sigh. She should've known he would catch up to her.

She turned and faced the irate boy. "Yes Kacchan?"

His tanned face was red with anger as he grabbed her by the upper arm, shaking her more gently than she expected. "Who the hell gave you permission to jump in like that?! You're not a hero! You're just a weak little girl!" She opened her mouth, a retort on her tongue, but he cut her off before she could even make a sound. "You might be better than most of the extras in our lame ass school, but you shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that. Besides, I don't need your damn help!"

Finished with his mini rant he stared her down for a moment, almost daring her to say something, before he violently shoved her away from himself and stalked back in the direction he'd come from.

Her eyes pricked with more tears but she held them back. She just wanted to be home so she could lay down and try to forget the crazy emotions the day had stirred in her.

Before she could take even a few steps there was another loud commotion.

"I AM HERE!" came the signature yell of her favorite hero as his buff body slid to a stop in front her. She jumped back, clenching her chest in surprise which seemed to amuse All Might. "Ha ha ha! Sorry young lady, I didn't mean to startle-" He cut off with a cough as blood spurted from between his teeth and his body abruptly shrank.

This time she screamed and waved her hands around, trying to figure out how to help the sick man, even as he nonchalantly wiped the blood from his chin.

"Don't worry young lady, this happens all the time!" the deflated All Might said with a deadpan tone. Oddly enough the sentiment did little to settle izuko's nerves, but she refrained from commenting.

"Can I ask what you're doing here?" she asked, trying to remain polite even despite her exhaustion.

His generally joking countenance abruptly sobered up as he stared straight into her bright green eyes. She could feel her own spine straighten in response to the serious atmosphere that had just surrounded them.

"Young lady," he began in his gravelly tone. "I come with both thanks, and a correction. If you hadn't have been at that scene today, if you hadn't showed me your will to fight…"

She cut him off before he could continue. "I'm so sorry All Might! I was the reason that villain even got loose in the first place, and then I jumped into the situation even though I'm just a girl!"

"No Midoriya, it is specifically because you, a girl, were willing to fight that I was able to act!" Said girl was completely speechless, unable to respond in the wake of such a powerful statement.

"I was willing to stand there and hope another hero would come along and help, but you who has no power acted without hesitation to save a life. There is one aspect that most true heroes have in common in stories from their school days. When it really counts, their bodies moved before they had a chance to think!"

izuko's eyes welled with tears as she felt a flow of emotion rush through her. It was like her mind knew what the hero was trying to tell her before the words ever left his mouth. And that notion, that fairytale, that dream, was one she had hoped for since she was a child.

"I could tell that was the case for you today." All Might's body was silhouetted by the setting sun behind him, and she couldn't think of a better backdrop for the earth-shattering sentence that next left his lips. "Young Midoriya, you can be a hero just like me."

 _Thanks again for reading! Hopefully I can get the next chapter out a little bit sooner than this one came, but no guarantees! I'm still hashing out some of the logistics involved in this story, because I want it all to make sense!_

 _Until next time!_


	4. Chapter 4

_WARNING: I have no clue where I'm going with this story, and that's becoming more and more clear to me each chapter. Sorry if that results in a lot of rambling story line, but I am trying to flesh everything out to hopefully inspire myself for future chapters. I'm awful at writing an outline and following it, so a lot of the story will be haphazardly thrown together._

 _Anyways! Moving on, hopefully we'll be getting into a little bit more character interaction starting in the next couple of chapters!_

 _Enjoy!_

Izuku had had many dreams and aspirations in her life. There had been a brief time as a child where she wanted to be a princess, and later a racecar driver, and then an even briefer time in which she wanted to be Kacchan's bride. She had resigned herself to the fact that none of these dreams would come true, and had moved on. She thought she had done the same with her dreams of being a hero, but recent events had shown that that was not the case.

The day that All Might told her that her dream was possible would go down in history as the best day of her life.

She had never been picked on for being a girl, or for lacking a quirk. Her aptitude for sports and academics kept that from being a problem. But she had still always felt the divide between her and the boys around her. She didn't care that they were naturally stronger than her; if she worked hard enough, she could bridge that gap. But not having a quirk… there was nothing she could do about that. No amount of work would bestow upon her that special mutation. And so, she had given up on working towards anything she had been told "required" a quirk. Specifically, becoming a hero.

And yet, before her stood the top hero in the country, telling her that it didn't matter that she was born without a quirk, she could still become a hero!

Her excitement quickly gave way to confusion. After all, despite his words now, he had previously made it very clear that he didn't think a girl, lacking a quirk as they do, could become a hero. It didn't seem like her actions that day would've changed that opinion.

He obviously saw her confusion on her face, as he laughed and finally explained, "I'm going to give you my quirk!" He seemed to think that was all the explanation she would need, but she certainly disagreed.

"Wait, are you saying that your quirk is able to be passed from person to person? Is that even possible? I mean, I've heard of copying quirks, but this is the exact opposite! And there's so much speculation as to what kind of quirk you have, but I've never even heard rumor of anything like this! And if this is real, is it a full transference of the quirk, meaning All Might will no longer have his abilities, or is it simply sending a copy of your quirk to another person? And if it's the latter, how many people can you send it to? Can you take it back once it's been sent? Are there qualifications for who can get the quirk?"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" All Might cut through her rambling. "Slow down, young lady! I'll answer all your questions eventually, but for now let's get the important parts out of the way!" She nodded enthusiastically, eager to get any of her questions answered. If anything, this seemed to amuse All Might even more.

"Well, first of all, my quirk is called One for All, and it has been passed down for several generations to those who are worthy of wielding it! It is a compounding quirk, so each new receiver is more powerful than the last! My predecessor gave it to me many years ago, and trusted me to use it to save everyone I could! But now that my injury is limiting my time doing my heroic duties, I need a successor. And you are the perfect candidate!"

She could feel her body physically shaking in excitement at this new information. She had been happy to hear that All Might thought her capable of becoming a hero, but now she had a tangible reason to believe the same of herself. She would no longer be just a "quirkless girl"! She could fulfill her dreams, and help so many people! But first she needed to figure out what all this would entail.

Before she could even open her mouth to ask her next line of questions, All Might jumped in. "Don't worry too much about it right now, young lady! I couldn't give you the quirk right now even if I wanted to! Your body isn't quite ready for that much power in it, your limbs would rip right off if we tried! No, for now we are going to train you, and hopefully you'll be ready by the time the UA entrance exams happen in 10 months!"

Before anymore could be said, he told her to meet him at Dagobah beach the next morning, and then quickly left with a few parting words. Showing up at that beach marked the true beginning of her journey.

Despite having lived in the area all her life, and knowing what to expect, she was still flabbergasted at the sheer amount of garbage spread across the once beautiful beach. She couldn't imagine why All Might would want to meet in such a place.

He quickly informed her that this wrecking yard of a beach was going to be the site of her training.

He must have seen her look of disbelief, as he let out a great laugh and explained further. "We are going to use this beach to kill two birds with one stone! Your goal will be to clear this section of the beach of all garbage! Lifting all of the heavy items will help build up muscle and stamina, and on top of that we will be performing a public service! Too many heroes forget that their job is to serve the community, and that doesn't always mean fighting villains!"

While inspirational, his short speech did little to convince her that she was capable of reaching his goal. But she had fought for years to break through all the stereotypes, and all of the limitations set upon her by society. This would be no different, she would just have to buck up and get it done!

And that's how her training started. Everyday she would go to school, study as hard as she could to keep up her perfect grades, and then she would attend one of her extra-curricular classes. She had asked All Might if she should drop them, but he had assured her that those were factored into his training plan, and that it would be for the best to keep her abilities diverse. So, she kept her Capoeira class, as well as a general dance class, a ballet class, a mixed martial arts course, and a writing course All Might had told her would be good for stress relief during her busy schedule. She one of these classes every weekday, and then had the weekend free to focus on the beach project.

On the days she had her classes, as soon as they were over, she would run home and change into her workout clothes, then run to Dagobah beach where she would stay until All Might deemed it time to finish for the day.

At home she had started making protein rich meals for herself to facilitate muscle growth, as per her mentor's orders. He had written up an entire dietary plan for her to follow alongside the exercise.

At first, she had struggled with coming up with excuses to tell her mom about her new busy schedule, but Inko seemed content to chalk it up to Izuku "growing up". The young girl wasn't exactly sure what her mother thought she was doing with her time, but she didn't ask. No reason to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Despite her incredibly busy schedule, somedays she felt like she wasn't progressing enough. That was especially true whenever she thought about the fact that she had to be ready for the UA entrance exam in only 10 months, but she forced herself to trust All Might's general knowledge, and to follow his plans as closely as she could manage. She was desperate to gain his power, and to finally set herself on a path towards fulfilling her life's aspirations!

Some days were harder than others, especially when her body finally decided to bloom into adulthood, and she got her first period. She couldn't be more thankful that it had happened while she was at home, having just gotten back from her writing class, but having yet to leave for the beach.

Her mom had told her years ago what she could expect from this particular phenomenon, but that didn't stop her from being incredibly irritable for several days after it happened. Part of that was because of the hormones, but it was also irritation at having one more thing that wanted to waylay her plans of being a hero. She found herself feeling exhausted much sooner in the day, which was limiting her progress. All Might had noticed this struggle and asked if there was anything that he could do to help, and she would never forget his face when she responded.

"Unless you can rewrite the genetic makeup of my body, and get rid of its incessant need to remind me that I am a female once a month, or could somehow make it less horrible, maybe change my mood to make me feel less like a rabid harpy, then no, there's nothing you can do!" Here she had paused to take in a deep breath. "But thank you."

His face had first been quizzical, not quite understanding what she meant. But you could see the moment understanding dawned on him as he abruptly deflated to his skinnier form, blushing a color so dark she worried he would pass out from the blood rushing to his head.

He quickly apologized and left her alone for the next couple of days, until a return of energy marked the end of her period. Both of them were content to pretend the interaction had never happened, and to ignore the fact that it would most likely happen again.

Outside of her training, she had been very isolated from the people at school. She had never had any particularly close friends, but she did occasionally go to cafes and stores with the other girls from her class. Now she never had the time to hang out with anybody, and she was so focused at school that most people avoided approaching her. It wasn't as though she was being bullied, in fact it was quite the opposite. Most of the people at school respected the fact that she was working so hard for her goals- though no one actually knew what those goals were.

The exception to this response was, of course, Kacchan. Because of her busy schedule, she hadn't been spending as much time in competition with the blond, and he had certainly noticed. Every time she ran away from him with excuses of "being too busy" he grew more irritable.

She knew that these interactions would one day blow up in her face, but she hoped that it would wait for as long as possible. That wait seemed to be over though.

5 months into her training with All Might, she found herself pinned to the school's wall by none other than her angry childhood friend. Despite knowing that she could hold her own against Kacchan in any fight that didn't involve his quirk, she still flinched away from the angry look in his eyes.

"What the hell, Deku?" the blond growled in her face.

She turned her head away, trying to avoid his gaze as she answered. "What do you mean, Kacchan? What's wrong?" The second she said it she knew feigning ignorance was a bad idea. Surely enough his lips twisted into a snarl and he slammed both fists against the wall beside her head, trapping her between them.

"Don't play dumb with me," his low voice growled. "You've been AWOL for months, and you keep bailing when I challenge you. What, are you scared now? Did you finally realize that I'm the superior one, and now you're afraid to fight me?"

She didn't know how to respond. On the one hand, she knew that if she agreed with his assumption, he would get even more upset with her. He never accepted her claims of being the obviously weaker one, and she had no reason to believe that he would believe her now. On the other hand, it would be difficult to explain what was going on without explaining everything, and much of her story wasn't hers alone to tell.

Her silence angered the temperamental teen even more, and she could hear the crackle of his quirk activating right next to her face. Deciding that there was no way to avoid giving him some sort of answer, she turned her head to look him in the eye and was surprised at what she saw there. She had expected his normal glare, with maybe a little more heat behind it. What she hadn't expected was to see lines of frustration on his face, or to see a hint of something very close to sadness in his eyes.

Guilt ate away at her as she considered lying to this boy whom she had known for so many years. He wasn't always the nicest, but he had still been there for her for as long as she could remember. When her father had left her and her mother so many years ago, this angry child had held her while she cried, and glared at anyone that dared to comment on her lack of a father figure. She couldn't bring herself to tell lies in this instance.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do. "I can't tell you, Kacchan." He opened his mouth, most likely to berate her more, but she quickly cut him off. "The whole story isn't mine to tell, and I don't want to tell you partial truths. Will you let me ask him to see if it's okay to tell you?"

Something in her response seemed to briefly upset him even more, but then he abruptly stepped back and turned away from her in a huff.

"Stupid Deku, you better not be into some weird back alley shit! And you better not make me wait! I'll give you until tomorrow to explain all of this, before I drag it out of you!" Despite his seemingly harsh words, she knew that they came from a place of caring, so she quickly nodded her head with a big grin on her face.

"I'll ask him tonight, and I'll talk to you tomorrow Kacchan! But I'm running late now, so I'll see you later!" Before Bakugou could say anything else, she quickly ran away. She had her ballet class today, and the teacher for that class was particularly strict about punctuality.

She wasn't sure how the conversation with All Might would go, nor did she know how she would handle it if he told her she couldn't tell Kacchan their secret, but for now there was nothing she could do except wait and hope the explosion wouldn't be too big either way.

 _One more chapter done! Sorry about how slow the story is progressing, but I have no clue how to speed it along. Hopefully it wasn't too boring, either way!_

 _See y'all next time!_


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